John Charmley


John Denis Charmley FRHistS is a British academic and diplomatic historian. Since 2002 he has held various posts at the University of East Anglia: initially as Head of the School of History, then as the Head of the School of Music and most recently as the Head of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Humanities. Since 2016 he has been Pro-Vice Chancellor for Academic strategy at St Mary's University, Twickenham.

Education

He was educated at Rock Ferry High School and Pembroke College, Oxford.

Views

Charmley sums up his feelings about Winston Churchill in :
Charmley has also tried to rehabilitate Neville Chamberlain. F. M. Leventhal, in a review of Chamberlain and the Lost Peace, suggested that while Charmley's work portrayed a courageous leader with "a deep and humane desire to leave no stone unturned to avoid war," Chamberlain's inability to recognise Hitler's ambition meant that "perhaps that is why Winston Churchill's reputation remains largely untarnished, while Chamberlain's, Charmley's initiative notwithstanding, cannot be resuscitated".

Criticism

Some historians find Charmley's view of the situation of Britain in the Second World War implausible at best. Many historians argue that it is difficult to blame the fall of the British Empire on Churchill, as it was exceedingly likely to fall anyway. Scholars also find the idea of a truce with Germany unwise at best, as Richard M. Langworth wrote:
A more general critique of the idea of making peace with Germany comes from Manfred Weidhorn:
Military historian Correlli Barnett calls it "absurd... that instead of going to war Britain could, and should, have lived with Wilhelmine Germany's domination of western Europe. This is glibly clever but actually preposterous as his claim... that Britain could and should have unilaterally withdrawn into neutrality in 1940–41"

Books